1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accessing account information and, more particularly, to accessing account information over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many business entities typically work with a number of vendors or suppliers to produce their products and/or services. Larger business entities (e.g., midsize and large corporations) typically include an accounts receivable department and an accounts payable department. An accounts payable department is responsible for payment of the invoices received by vendors or suppliers. An accounts receivable department is responsible for sending out invoices to various business entities and monitoring payment of the invoices. The accounts payable department of a business entity interacts with accounts receivable departments of its vendors or suppliers.
Conventionally, personnel of the accounts receivable departments of the vendors or suppliers daily or weekly telephone personnel of the accounts payable department of the business entity to ask for information such as invoice payments and, when invoices have been paid, the check number and amount of the check. Typically, clerks at the accounts payable department of the business entity would have to service the telephone or facsimile inquiries. The clerks would then look up the information requested either on a computer system or in manual files of the business entity. Thereafter, the clerk would return the telephone calls or facsimiles to respond to the inquiries.
One problem with the conventional interaction between accounting departments of business entities is that the substantial amount of man power required to service these account inquiries from suppliers or vendors is burdensome for the business entities. The account inquiries are particularly disruptive to the accounts payable departments of business entities.
Also, telephonic methods of accessing account information have been conventionally utilized. For example, a vendor or supplier could telephone a business entity to access certain limited account information by entering a password code and various other codes on the telephone keypad. However, telephonic methods are also problematic because not only does it take a long amount of time to request and receive the information, but only a limited amount of account information can be accessed in this manner.
Thus, there is a need for improved ways for suppliers or vendors to access account information of a business entity.
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to improved techniques for remotely accessing account information through the Internet. The invention provides security measures so that unauthorized access is unlikely even though the Internet is utilized. Assuming access is authorized, the invention acquires the requested account information and then presents the requested account information to a requester via the Internet in a format suitable for the type of requested account information. In addition, as an additional security measure, the invention may also filter out any account holder identifying information from the requested account information such that the account information presented to the requester does not identify the account holder.
In one embodiment, the account information being remotely accessed via the Internet is the actual (i.e., xe2x80x9clivexe2x80x9d) account information of a business entity. As an example, the account information can be accounts payable information of the business entity which is stored on and accessed directly from a financial database ordinarily used by the business entity. Normally, the financial database is stored on a secure financial computer protected from external network access by a firewall.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a method, a system, or a computer readable medium. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.
As a method for accessing account information from a business entity financial computer over the Internet, an embodiment of the invention includes: requesting, a client machine, access to a server machine, the client machine and the server machine being coupled to the Internet, and the server machine having a secure connection to the business entity financial computer; determining whether access is authorized; requesting, at the client machine, account information from the business entity financial computer; extracting, at the server machine, the requested account information from the business entity financial computer over the secure connection; and forwarding at least a portion of the extracted data from the server machine to the client machine.
As a method for accessing account information from a business entity financial computer over the Internet, another embodiment of the invention includes: requesting, a client machine, access to an Internet server machine, the client machine and the Internet server machine being coupled to the Internet, and the Internet server machine having a secure connection to the business entity financial computer; determining whether access is authorized; displaying, at the client machine, an information selection screen offering a plurality of different report types of account information when access is determined to be authorized; selecting one of the different report types of account information; displaying a data entry screen for the selected report type; entering data for the selected report type using the data entry screen being displayed; transmitting, to the server machine, a request for the selected report type in accordance with the data entered; extracting, at the server machine, the requested account information from the business entity financial computer over the secure connection; producing a report of the selected report type from at least a portion of the extracted account information; forwarding the report produced from the server machine to the client machine; and displaying, at the client machine, the report forwarded from the server machine.
As a system for remotely viewing accounts payable information, an embodiment of the invention comprises: an account information computer that stores the accounts payable information for a business entity, the accounts payable information is the actual, up-to-date accounts payable information for the business entity; a local network server machine coupled to the account information computer over a secure communications link and coupled to the Internet; and a remote client machine coupled to the Internet. A vendor representative for a vendor can operate the remote client machine to gain access to accounts payable information for the vendor that is stored in the account information computer. The vendor enters a request at the remote client machine, and then the request is forwarded to the local network server through the Internet. The local network server interprets the request and accesses the accounts payable information computer via the secure communications link to obtain certain accounts payable information for the vendor. Thereafter, the certain accounts payable information is then forwarded to the remote client machine through the Internet.
As a computer readable medium containing program instructions for accessing account information from a business entity financial computer over the Internet, an embodiment of the invention includes: first computer readable code for requesting, a client machine, access to a server machine, the client machine and the server machine being coupled to the Internet, and the server machine having a secure connection to the business entity financial computer; second computer readable code for determining whether access is authorized; third computer readable code for requesting, at the client machine, account information from the business entity financial computer; fourth computer readable code for extracting, at the server machine, the requested account information from the business entity financial computer over the secure connection; and fifth computer readable code for forwarding at least a portion of the extracted data from the server machine to the client machine.
The advantages of the invention are numerous. One advantage of the invention is that the man power required to service incoming inquiries from vendors or suppliers regarding payment of their invoices is substantially reduced. Another advantage of the invention is that vendors or suppliers are able to access account information of the business entity to determine the payment status of their invoices. Still another advantage of the invention is that the account information from the business entity concerning vendors or suppliers can be downloaded and imported into a spreadsheet. Yet another advantage of the invention is that a vendor can be electronically notified of the payment of an invoice prior to funding their account with said payment. This advance notification allows vendors or suppliers to pre-post their receivables and thus provide a cash forecast.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.